Call of the Netherdeep: A Critical Role Campaign

About the adventure

A champion of the Gods, locked for ages in the darkest depths of Exandria has been awakened by the greed of mortals. His name has been forgotten His heroic deeds lost in time. He seeks release from his torture. Are you the heroes who can change fate? Will you become the champions of legends? Can you beat out rivals who are only interested in the wealth of magics? Would you be capable of shaping the course of history? This is a DnD 5e campaign which spans Matt Mercer's world of Exandria from the Wastes of Xhorhas to the oasis city of Marquet. This campaign is role play and exploration heavy. The combat is challenging and intense. Themes of confinement, mental health, body horror, survival, corruption, and death are present in the campaign. This is a campaign for mature individuals. A mechanic for the corruptible nature of the magics presented is introduced, leaning heavily on the exhaustion mechanics of 5e. I run a very dynamic campaign featuring heavy role play, involved story lines twisting in elements of the character backgrounds and stories, and intriguing exploration. I run my NPCs as characters in the world we create together, with their own personality, goals, and ambitions. Along the trip we are about to make together, I am foremost a champion of the characters, giving you the spotlight and the ability to show off ingenuity in planning and creative actions during play. Unfamiliar with Critical Role's setting? Don't worry, there will be plenty of material available to help integrate you into the environment as together we explore the world and create an unique story. I run an open table where everyone is welcome and appreciated for who they are and what they bring to the game. Themes inside the game may explore sensitive issues and topics. These will stay in the game and attitudes of exclusion, homophobia, and racism are not welcome at the table outside of the game play.

Additional Details

How to prepare

Please make sure you have a computer with good internet connection If you do not have an account on Roll20, please make a free account on that platform If you do not have a Discord account, please make a free account on that platform Use of a quality microphone is appreciated and encouraged Come with your character concepts. I will post information on Roll20 and the Discord server to help with character and backstory creation.

What I provide

I bring a pro subscription on Roll20 featuring: Dynamic lighting Mods and Macros for smoother game play Source books available through the compendium: The Player's Handbook, The Monster Manual, Volo's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Tome of Beasts II, The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, Call of the Netherdeep Campaign Guide. Additionally, I have Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, Tome of Beasts I, The Dungeon Master's Guide, and many other published adventures outside of Roll20 to draw upon for information and game play. An ambient sound and music library from which I will curate a specific list for this campaign. Quirky and unique NPCs to interact with. Where needed, custom maps and artwork which will add to the campaign. I pull from a vast curated library of maps and create my own as needed. Where it makes sense, I like to add dynamic elements to my maps.

Gameplay details

Character creation will be during session 0, following a description of the setting, the campaign goals, environments, and a discussion on lines and veils. X, N, O cards will be available on the VTT for players to use at any time during play if a topic or situation becomes too intense. No further play will be acknowledged until we have a frank and open discussion about the current issue and have agreed on a path forward. A Stars and Wishes channel is set up for players to post their favorite moments of a session, acknowledge the spectacular accomplishments of other party members, and to post ideas and wishes for events, treasure, and situations they would like to see in the game. I run the game on Roll20 for character sheets, dice rolls, maps, and in-game information for the characters. The game compendium is available for players to peruse when in the game. Voice and between session notices and discussion will be on a dedicated Discord server. Sessions are recorded (audio only) for my notes and future session planning. I do post notes for each session on both Roll20 campaign forum and on Discord. Players are welcome and will be rewarded for adding to those notes or posting their character's viewpoints of each session's events. I am a firm believer that, as GM, I create the setting, the NPC reactions, and the happenings of the world. As the characters, you will create the story which leads to the end goals of the campaign. In this, I only ask that you bring characters and character concepts which have a desire to work with the party and work within the world setting presented.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

Lines and Veils
Session 0
Stars and Wishes
X, N, and O Cards

How will character creation work

Character creation will be a community effort during Session 0. You are welcome and encouraged to come with your character concepts. We will roll dice for the starting ability scores using the method described below. Players coming in after session 0 will use the pool of numbers created by the players during session 0 for their characters. Ability Score: Dice Pool Method This method will generate eight ability scores – Each person rolling a d6 and then pooling these results in groups of four rolls and dropping the lowest value. This is repeated in turn using all the rolls in order as they appear or are reported until there is a total of eight ability scores. These scores will be paired up with the highest value to the lowest value, the next highest to the next lowest, etc., to create four pairs of scores. Players will then have the selection of any three of the pairs from which to fill out their ability scores for their characters. This dice pool will be retained so that any new player joining or any player creating a back-up or new character will use the same starting numbers for the duration of the campaign. So as an example, if the rolls come up as 17, 16, 13, 12, 11, 11, 9, 8. The matched pairs would be (17,8), (16,9), (13, 11), (12, 11). A player creating a character could use any three of these pairs for their ability scores. Official resources available for character creation within the game are: The Player's Handbook, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Xanathar's Guide to Everything and The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. For those players who wish a pre-generated character, a roster of characters representing a variety of classes and species will be available.

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.